kindle2 - some thoughts on ebook reading

[Kitsune]

Still no epub on kindle, so still not buyin'.  Waiting to see if a nicer nook 2 comes out.

[Ingmar]

Been playing around with the Kindle phone/desktop app, the Whispernet update thing where it remembers your last page read across all devices is really cool.

[Xuri]

After someone linked me an article on some Sony Reader devices at work today, I started reading up on them. So I read. And read some more. And then I went out to the nearest Sony store in Montreal, and bought a "Touch Edition PRS-650"! So I'm an eBook-reader(eReader? eBR?)-owner now! Amazing. Have owned it for about 3 1/2 hours now, though I have yet to actually read anything on it, since I've been busy downloading every eBook available in the public domain and installing Calibre to try keeping track of them.

[Zetor]

Yeah, the Sony readers are pretty good -- the biggest issue with my PRS-600 is the relatively low contrast when compared to a kindle (or even Sony's earlier, non-touchscreen offerings). I like how it takes ~1 hour to fully charge it, and that charge is good for several thousand pageturns worth of reading. Beat that, tablets! 

A battery-related protip: when you're putting the device away for a long time (a day or more), it's a good idea to turn it off completely by holding the power switch in the 'off' position until it asks you "do you really want to shut down blah blah". If you just turn it off normally (pushing the power switch into the 'off' position without holding), it'll go into standby mode which drains the battery somewhat. I found this out the hard way, and didn't really see anything about this in the documentation... maybe I didn't RTFM the right sections.

[Zaljerem]

My parents got a Kobo as a gift, it's not a bad little e-ink reader. Handles PDFs and EPUBs ... Calibre works great with it. It can be a little flaky at times but supposedly a firmware update is coming soon. If it freezes it's a got a nice paper-clip-ready hard reset button. 

Let me also reiterate that Calibre rules; easy easy format conversion alone makes it worth it.

I too find ebooks a little overpriced. It's not as if there's the huge overhead of actual paper book production.

I'm interested in getting a reader of some sort ... but I'm content to wait around for awhile for these devices to hit the third-generation sweet spot of more functionality, more stability, and more reasonable price.

Was never much for the bleeding edge ... if you're there, be prepared to bleed.

[Morat20]

I'm interested in getting a reader of some sort ... but I'm content to wait around for awhile for these devices to hit the third-generation sweet spot of more functionality, more stability, and more reasonable price.

Like the.....Kindle 3? I believe it retails for 140, has a massive battery life. :)

[Bunk]

I'm actually really happy I went with the non-touchscreen Sony pocket version. It's very bare bones, no extras like annotation or dictionaries, but it does exactly what I wanted it for.

[NiX]

My parents got a Kobo as a gift, it's not a bad little e-ink reader. Handles PDFs and EPUBs ... Calibre works great with it. It can be a little flaky at times but supposedly a firmware update is coming soon. If it freezes it's a got a nice paper-clip-ready hard reset button. 

That firmware update already came out, unless there's still issues after the first one.

Is it the non-WiFi version? Girlfriend loves to read and want to get her an eReader for Christmas, but I'm not sure if I should get her the Kobo or a Sony.

[Zaljerem]

My parents got a Kobo as a gift, it's not a bad little e-ink reader. Handles PDFs and EPUBs ... Calibre works great with it. It can be a little flaky at times but supposedly a firmware update is coming soon. If it freezes it's a got a nice paper-clip-ready hard reset button. 

That firmware update already came out, unless there's still issues after the first one.

Is it the non-WiFi version? Girlfriend loves to read and want to get her an eReader for Christmas, but I'm not sure if I should get her the Kobo or a Sony.

I believe there's a second update in the works, so my old man said, not really sure though.

It's the non-WiFi version, USB ... I've never used any other readers yet so I can't really compare it to anything else fairly.

[Zaljerem]

My parents got a Kobo as a gift, it's not a bad little e-ink reader. Handles PDFs and EPUBs ... Calibre works great with it. It can be a little flaky at times but supposedly a firmware update is coming soon. If it freezes it's a got a nice paper-clip-ready hard reset button. 

Let me also reiterate that Calibre rules; easy easy format conversion alone makes it worth it.

Thread necro! New firmware for the Kobo seems to have fixed the flakiness. I'd also like to re-iterate that Calibre rules.

[Baldrake]

Calibre does rule, and for all the Kindle haters, Calibre will happily transform epub into Mobi for reading on the Kindle.

[murdoc]

Just went to order a Kindle for my Dad for Christmas and estimated delivery to Canada was January 19th. Changed the address to our Houston R&D Center and the estimated delivery date is... friday. 

[Trippy]

Just went to order a Kindle for my Dad for Christmas and estimated delivery to Canada was January 19th. Changed the address to our Houston R&D Center and the estimated delivery date is... friday. 

Why isn't the Kindle sold in Canada?

[Baldrake]

Just went to order a Kindle for my Dad for Christmas and estimated delivery to Canada was January 19th. Changed the address to our Houston R&D Center and the estimated delivery date is... friday. 

Funny, I just did exactly the same thing.

Well, didn't send it to your Houston R&D Center, but to a friend in the US that my wife is visiting this weekend.

[Baldrake]

Just went to order a Kindle for my Dad for Christmas and estimated delivery to Canada was January 19th. Changed the address to our Houston R&D Center and the estimated delivery date is... friday. 

Why isn't the Kindle sold in Canada?

As much as I love my country and all, there is a long list of things that suck in Canada. Amazon sells part of their store up here. No Hulu. No Zune Pass. Netflix has a sucky and useless selection.

[NiX]

The Kindle thing is entirely on Amazon's part. They refuse to stock in IN Canada, so it's always shipping out of one of their US distribution centers, which has the nice added bonus of added customs fees to your purchase. I opted for the Kobo WiFi for the girlfriend's Christmas present because of all that garbage.

[Arrrgh]

Why does the DRM not bother any of you? I google kindle DRM and get pages of horror stories. I like to keep books and  it sounds like the DRM will screw me out of the book when I either hit some undisclosed amazon number of download limits, or buy some non Kindle reader next time and they refuse to switch the books over to the new reader.

[KallDrexx]

Since other ebooks are being mentioned.

Nook just came out with the new 1.5 update.  Synchronized page turns across all devices, ridiculously fast page turns now (not just from their marketing, my nook changes pages soooo fast now, even on PDFs), and a bunch of other goodies.

[Zaljerem]

Why does the DRM not bother any of you? I google kindle DRM and get pages of horror stories. I like to keep books and  it sounds like the DRM will screw me out of the book when I either hit some undisclosed amazon number of download limits, or buy some non Kindle reader next time and they refuse to switch the books over to the new reader.

I opted for the Kobo WiFi for the girlfriend's Christmas present because of all that garbage.

I think I'm heading this direction too. The Kobo doesn't care about DRM, it just reads things. Combining it with Calibre, which will convert pretty much anything into Kobo-friendly .epubs ....it's a win.

[Baldrake]

Lots of FUD here...

DRM on the kindle is a solved problem - Google the calibre plugin for kindle for pc.

Also, the kindle will happily read any unlocked book in Mobi format, which Calibre generates from any other popular format.

[Tmon]

I don't much care about DRM because I download 99% of my ebooks from the local library or epub versions from the Guttenberg Project.  The library books are DRM protected epub versions that use Adobe reader.  Adobe syncs up with my nook pretty seamlessly so I'm a happy camper.  I like my nook a lot and have had zero problems with it.  My wife is on the fence about getting an ereader and seems drawn to the kindle for some reason, but she doesn't want to come up off the bucks for one.  I told her I'd buy any one of her choice that supported e-pub but so far she's not taken me up on it.

[Morat20]

I don't much care about DRM because I download 99% of my ebooks from the local library or epub versions from the Guttenberg Project.  The library books are DRM protected epub versions that use Adobe reader.  Adobe syncs up with my nook pretty seamlessly so I'm a happy camper.  I like my nook a lot and have had zero problems with it.  My wife is on the fence about getting an ereader and seems drawn to the kindle for some reason, but she doesn't want to come up off the bucks for one.  I told her I'd buy any one of her choice that supported e-pub but so far she's not taken me up on it.

As noted, Calibre happily converts between formats -- it's basically iTunes for e-readers, with support for pretty much every e-reader. Very plug-and-play. At this point, it's really down to features and look-and-feel.

I don't see DRM being all that big an issue at the moment, or likely ever. In any case, Amazon's pushing hard for the move to an e-reader format (and their own Kindle) so they're not going to want to shit their bed too much on the issue. While they're at the mercy of publishers, to an extent, their long-term plan seems to be basically luring writers into self-publishing.

[KallDrexx]

Can Kindles read e-books from library systems yet?

[Baldrake]

Well, certainly not if they are epub-based, which as far as I know, they all are.

[Tmon]

They can't, and as far as I know Calibre can't handle converting from DRM'd epub to Kindle's format.  I've used Calibre once to convert a free book from Baen into epub format but other than that everything I want to read seems to be available as epub.

[Baldrake]

There are tools out there for removing the DRM from the "adept" mechanism used by Sony, Kobo etc. for DRMing epub.

[HaemishM]

their long-term plan seems to be basically luring writers into self-publishing.

I'd agree. They offer authors who use their DTP platform for publishing eBooks the choice of DRM'ed or non-DRM'ed books.

[Morat20]

I'd agree. They offer authors who use their DTP platform for publishing eBooks the choice of DRM'ed or non-DRM'ed books.

Not to mention that 70% of 2.99 is probably a hell of a lot more than their % of trade paperbacks are hardbacks, unless they are seriously big name authors.

Only issue, really, is the marketing one. However, Amazon's at least got a partial solution their -- their 'recommended' and 'others who bought' networks will likely be the backbone of their system to tie self-published, unknown authors into the big-name authors system.

[Viin]

I just ran into the Nook Color review over at Engadget - looks pretty nice. Has anyone heard any rumors of a color Kindle? I'm _really_ interested in getting digital color versions of magazines on one of these things .. the Nook doesn't seems to have very many of interest though (only 75 to pick from).

[Morat20]

I just ran into the Nook Color review over at Engadget - looks pretty nice. Has anyone heard any rumors of a color Kindle? I'm _really_ interested in getting digital color versions of magazines on one of these things .. the Nook doesn't seems to have very many of interest though (only 75 to pick from).

They're blocked by the big increase in price for color e-ink. Nook color bypasses it for a straight-LCD, right? Which means no reading in sunlight, and a shorter battery life.

Amazon apparently doesn't wish to compete with the mini-tablet market (Nook, iPads, and any of the other "more than a phone, less than a laptop" gadgets), and appears to be sticking with "Long battery life, works in sunlight, feels more like a book to read". I think they feel the market is bigger for straight-up e-readers than the LCD stuff.

So, until they get past their technical roadblocks on color e-ink, don't expect much.

[Baldrake]

Good summary. I'm personally really scratching my head over the LCD book reader concept. Surely if you're willing to go with LCD over eInk, you'd want a full-on tablet like the iPad or Galaxy instead?

[Morat20]

Good summary. I'm personally really scratching my head over the LCD book reader concept. Surely if you're willing to go with LCD over eInk, you'd want a full-on tablet like the iPad or Galaxy instead?

That was my thought. *shrug*. I'd have to admit, I wouldn't want to compete head-to-head with iPad, especially if my real money was on books, not gadgets.

As far as Amazon is concerned, they make their money if you buy  a book for Kindle or for iPad. (I doubt they have much of a mark-up on Kindles. I wouldn't be surprised if they're sold practically at cost). Kindle's just an ereader for folks who don't want a tablet. It's designed as a book that can be any other book, without all the fiddly extras.

[Tmon]

Good summary. I'm personally really scratching my head over the LCD book reader concept. Surely if you're willing to go with LCD over eInk, you'd want a full-on tablet like the iPad or Galaxy instead?

Pretty much what I thought when I played around with one the other night at the local B&N store.  It seemed not bad, but didn't bring enough to the table to justify buying one.

[Tmon]

Google has started selling e-books http://books.google.com/ebooks they using the Adobe ebook format so there's no native Kindle support.

[caladein]

Dad bought Mom a Kindle for Valentine's and I was setting it up this morning.  A few thoughts:

1) That screen is pure fucking witchcraft.  When I turned it off and the screen refreshed over to some birds or something I just started giggling out of a mix of amazement and fear.

2) It's kind of a hassle to browse Spanish-language books on the site and on the device it appears completely impossible.  Easiest way I found was to get to Advanced Search via the Books proper storefront and then do it by Format/Language.  This isn't a huge "OMG we have to return it now."-type issue as my Mom reads a lot in English too and if she's looking for a specific book it'll show up.  They could just add Language to the sidebar on results on the site and add something to the device's store though.

3) The case-with-the-light is pretty slick.

Project Gutenberg has a relatively small Spanish language selection so I'll probably grab a chunk of that for her later today.  Does doing it manually versus Calibre make any difference to how it shows up on device?